Movie Review Ferdinand

Ferdinand (2017) 

Directed by Carlos Saldanha 

Written by Robert L. Baird, Tim Federle, Brad Copeland 

Starring John Cena, Kate McKinnon

Release Date December 15th, 2017

Blue Sky Animation is the home of the truly mediocre in modern animation. The house that the awful Ice Age movies built is back again and apparently attempting to hide their latest bit of sub-par animation by opening Ferdinand opposite Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Smart move, Blue Sky. Burying Ferdinand is definitely the right call. No, the movie isn’t terrible, it’s just mediocre. And in a world where Pixar still rules, it’s not a bad idea to drop your more modestly ambitious products where few audiences will see it.

Ferdinand tells the story of a young bull, voiced by WWE legend John Cena. Young Ferdinand has decided at a very early age that he wants nothing to do with being a bullfighter. Ferdinand, you see, dear reader, loves flowers. That’s all the explanation you are going to get about young Ferdinand’s nature: he loves flowers. When his father, voiced by Jeremy Sisto, doesn’t return to the stable after facing down a matador, Ferdinand decides his best bet in making a run for it.

Through luck and guile, Ferdinand manages to get aboard a train and winds up outside of town and on the farm of a local gardener known for his fantastic flowers. Ferdinand is adopted and loved by Nina (Lily Day) and grows up with her until he becomes a 2,000 pound behemoth. No longer able to hide, Ferdinand gets himself captured when he can’t resist attending the local flower festival and ends up back on his old farm where he is now the biggest bull in the yard, and the one that the new matador has his eye on.

The animation in Ferdinand is good. It’s not Pixar good, but it’s good. The characters have a rubbery exterior that thankfully doesn’t press into the uncanny valley, but it’s also not particularly pretty, either. It’s just OK. The best animation is likely the three hedgehogs, voiced by Gina Rodriguez, Daveed Diggs and Gabriel Iglesias. The spiky hedgehogs are beautifully rendered, but they’re also underwritten and rarely ever funny, which is surprising given the talented voices behind them.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal 

Movie Review Rio

Rio (2011) 

Directed by Carlos Saldanha 

Written by Don Rhymer, Jennifer Ventimilia, Sam Harper

Starring Jesse Esenberg, Anne Hathaway, Jamie Foxx, Jemaine Clement

Release Date April 15th, 2011 

Published April 15th, 2011

With a cast bursting with award winners and the winning team behind the "Ice Age" movies at the helm it can come as no surprise that "Rio" is a delight. Sweet, funny and heartfelt, this coming of age story about a bird learning to fly and falling in love for the first time is a wonderful bit of 3D animated fluff.

"Rio" features the voice of Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network's" socially awkward Mark Zuckerberg, as a socially awkward Blue Macaw named, aptly enough, Blu who lives in, of all places, Minnesota. Blu was poached at a very early age from his tree top home in Brazil. He fell off a truck in Minnesota and has since been raised by Linda (voice of "Knocked Up's" Leslie Mann).

Learning to Fly

Being domesticated left Blu with little need or want to learn how to fly. He's perfectly happy walking and leaping about Linda's house sipping hot chocolate and reading. Of course, Blu is in for a major life change and it comes in the form of Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro), a Zoologist from Brazil who implores Linda to bring Blu to Brazil in order to mate with another Blue Macaw named Jewel (voice of Ann Hathaway).

Once in Rio Blu meets Jewel and finds her less than friendly. Jewel is eager to escape, no matter what happens to the species or Blu but when both she and Blu are captured by poachers, including an evil Cockatoo named Nigel (Flight of the Conchords Jemaine Clement), she finds that she will be stuck with Blu for a while and his lack of flight will make their new unfortunate and unplanned adventure a bit more difficult.

Singing in Support

Rounding out the exceptional voice cast of "Rio" is Jamie Foxx as a soulful voiced Canary named Nico, Black Eyed Peas member Will I. Am as a Samba loving Cardinal named Pedro and George Lopez as Raphael a Toco Toucan who was once the bird king of Carnaval but is now a stay at home dad to 18 kids. Raphael becomes Blu's flying guru and with Nico and Pedro, the cheering section as Blu makes his awkward moves on the stubborn but sweet Jewel.

"Rio" is a gloriously fun, sweet and samba infused adventure that even the darkness of the 3D cannot manage to ruin. Though I imagine that the colors of Rio pop more in 2D and look much better, the 3D print I watched was lively and colorful enough to help me get past most of my reservations about 3D. The creative team behind "Rio," led by director Carlos Saldanha, doesn't overuse the stuff flying toward the screen in 3D effect and instead employ the best of 3D in the scenes soaring over the stunning animated cityscape of "Rio."

Feel that Samba Beat

The music of "Rio '' is like another character in the story with the Samba acting as the film's beating heart. Legendary Brazilian artist Sergio Mendes acted as the film's Executive Music Producer and with Carlinhos Brown crafted a score that is irresistibly danceable. Jamie Foxx and Will I. Am make a sensational musical team on the song "Hot Wings (Wanna Party) but it's Foxx who gets the movie's best musical moment singing the "Rio '' love theme.

"Rio" is a real treat. Bright, colorful, tuneful and funny, kids are going to flip for these terrific bird characters and mom and dad will enjoy the terrific music and the strong message of friendship, love and coming of age. The team behind the "Ice Age" movies, Blue Sky Studios, has another hit on their hands with "Rio."

Movie Review Ice Age The Meltdown

Ice Age The Meltdown (2006) 

Directed by Carlos Saldanha

Written by Jim Hecht

Starring Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Josh Peck, Seann William Scott, Queen Latifah

Release Date March 31st 2006, 

Published March 30th, 2006 

When it comes to computer animation, if it's not Pixar it's not brilliant. The fact is -despite the success of Shrek, Shark Tale or Ice Age - no company creates computer animated films like Pixar. All others are merely pretenders feeding at the trough built by Steve Jobs and his company. Because of the empire Pixar created, movies like 2002's Ice Age were made and met with great success. Such success has bred a sequel to that pleasant if unmemorable prehistoric cartoon about ancient animal species coming together to become lifelong friends and learning to survive.

Ice Age: The Meltdown brings our friends Manny The Mammoth (Ray Romano), Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo) and Diego the saber tooth tiger (Denis Leary) back together on the eve of the end of the Ice Age. While enjoying what they believe is a delicate spring warm up in their little valley, Manny and company discover the glaciers that surround their idyllic home are melting and soon the whole valley will be underwater.

They must lead their tribe of disparate creatures from their home to a mythical ark somewhere in the woods where they can float to safety on higher ground. Poor Manny is dealing with the sad fact that as far as he knows there are no other mammoths in the world. If he dies, his whole species dies with him. Manny however has a big surprise waiting for him.

As the group begins their trek they come across a couple of wiseacre possums (Sean William Scott and Josh Peck) who, while irritating the heck out of Diego, accidentally lead to the discovery of Ellie (Queen Latifah) a beautiful female mammoth with one unfortunate defect. After years of living with possums she has come to believe she is a possum. Manny must lead this new group to safety and along the way try and convince Ellie that she is actually a mammoth like him. He also must learn to come out of his gloomy shell if ever the effervescent free spirited Ellie is going to help him rebuild the mammoth species.

Ice Age 2 plays like a multi episode arc of a cartoon series including commercial breaks. However, instead of commercials we have Scrat the prehistoric squirrel who's sisyphean quest for the ever elusive acorn is by far the films strongest source of comedy. Scrat steals the entire movie with his little 2 and 3 minute segments during which he gains and loses his precious acorn. Scrat likely would not work in a film of his own but in small doses Scrat is minimalist brilliance. Film scholars and philosophers could muse for hours on Scrat's never ending quest for that acorn and the innumerable ways it eludes him.

The final grail-like quest in which Scrat nearly gains the ultimate acorn is a brilliant device that ties Scrat to the main characters. The rest of Ice Age: The Meltdown is pleasant but not all that memorable. The central story is sweet and good natured. The voice actors all do solid work. There is unfortunately nothing that sets Ice Age apart from any other product aimed at children.

The script by Peter Gaulke and Gerry Swallow is not all that clever or original. The gags with Scrat have their unique genius but only in small doses. The animation of Ice Age: The Meltdown is pretty standard stuff for the genre although I am told that animating as much water as is featured in the film was quite an impressive task in terms of the amount of work it took.

The animation pales in comparison to the elegant artistry of just about every film Pixar has ever produced. Trying to compare Ice Age 2 to anything Pixar is like comparing a velvet Elvis to the Mona Lisa. There is literally that much of a noticeable difference between what Pixar does and what everyone else in the computer animation genre is doing.

The bottom line on Ice Age: The Meltdown is that it is inoffensive and easy to watch. Exactly what parents are looking for on a Saturday afternoon with the kids. You won't find anything controversial or really all that memorable about Ice Age The Meltdown. Which is a good thing if you're looking for an electronic babysitter but not so good if, like me, you're looking to be moved intellectually or emotionally.

I recommend Ice Age: The Meltdown to the undiscerning audience. For those of you looking for true stimulation in kids entertainment go back to your Incredibles DVD or Finding Nemo or Toy Story, or.... well you get the point.